Thread guide



'March 15, 1949. AMQN 2,464,664

THREAD GUIDE Filed March 22, 1946 ll-lllllll i INVE NTOR JOSEPH AMON BY W I MORNEY Patented Mar. 15, 1949 sew THREAD GUIDE Joseph Amon. Rahway, N. J., assignor to Joseph Amon, Incorporated, Rahway, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application March 22, 1946, Serial No. 656,385

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in guides and more particularly to a novel eyelet structure for guiding threads and is an improvement over the guide shown in my Patent No. 1,838,245.

The device is especially adapted for use on thread finishing apparatus wherein metallic containers are provided through which the threads pass and become moistened. The invention is especially useful wherever a plain tapered thread guide is required in openings in sheet metal walls, such as on the Snappers of machines for making full fashioned hosiery.

A primary object of the invention is to provide such a thread guide or eyelet that shall embody novel and improved features of construction whereby the guide or eyelet shall be easily insertlble into and shall snugly fit in a hole in a sheet metal wall.

A further object is to provide a thread guide or eyelet of this character which can be easily made with a minimum of material.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a guide or eyelet of this character that shall afford a clean, smooth lining or surface for an opening for moving threads, for example in a snapper of a machine for making full fashioned hosiery and the like.

Another object is to provide a guide that resists wear to the greatest degree.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description thereof to follow taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of one form of my improved guide in operative position in a supporting sheet.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the guide in position in the supporting sheet prior to the application of force to force it into operative position.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the guide.

Referring particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral I denotes the thin metal wall of a thread moistening cabinet or of a machine for making full fashioned hosiery. The wall is provided with an opening 2 of suitable size to receive the improved eyelet or guide.

The eyelet comprises a body 3 provided with a bore l extending longitudinally therethrough and each end of the bore is flared outwardly at 5 to eliminate any possible cutting edge. The body is made of the hardest type of abrasive resistant material available having free machining qualities, such as work hardened stainless steel. The

surface of the body is highly polished and is tapered gradually from the top to the bottom so as to form substantially a frustum of a cone. Adjacent the top end, the body is formed with an external circumferential groove 6 of a width slightly greater than the thickness of the wall I and whose side walls intersect or meet said tapered portion so that the edges of the groove lie in the surface of said tapered portion.

The opening 2 of the wall or sheet is of a diameter suflicient to receive the body of the eyelet to a point substantially adjacent the lower wall of the groove as shown in Figure 2, at which point the diameter of the body is substantially equal to that of the opening. A slight pressure is then exerted on the eyelet whereby the material of the wall of the opening 2 flexes slightly and becomes distorted or cupped, permitting the eyelet to enter further until the wall snaps over the lower wall of the groove 6 when the groove is reached. The diameter of the groove is slightly less than the diameter of the opening 2 and the natural spring tension of the material of the wall will return the wall to its original shape thereby providing a snug fit of the eyelet in the opening. The eyelet is thereby jammed in the opening and cannot enter any further therein under normal pressure because the taper of the body continues to the top end thereof and the diameter of said body above the groove is greater than the diameter below whereby the upper wall of the groove engages the sheet I and prevents further entry of the eyelet. The eyelet will remain in position and will not become displaced.

It will be noted that the eyelet is flangeless and headless so that the taper and the groove can be easily and quickly formed; and the article requires a minimum of material to produce it. Furthermore, the side walls of the groove especially at their edges, will snugly grip the edges of the hole in the sheet metal wall in which the eyelet is inserted.

All corners of the improved eyelet are rounded insuring a smooth surface wherever the thread is drawn through or over the eyelet thereby eliminating any possibility of sharp edges cutting or damaging the thread or yarn.

By making the body of the eyelet of workhardened stainless steel, the longer and the more the thread or yarn is run through the eyelet the harder the eyelet body will get thereby resisting wear to the greatest degree.

Changes in details might be made without departing from the principle of the invention and I desire to be limited only by the state of the prior art and the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. Ajiread guide comprising a body portion having its outer periphery formed with a straight frusto-conical portion having a tapered surface extending from end to end, said body portion having a guide opening centrally therethrough and having an external circumferential groove adjacent the larger end of said frusto-conical portion whose side wall nearer the smaller end of the tapered portion intersects said tapered surface at an acutely angular edge.

2. A thread guide comprising a body portion having its outer periphery formed with a straight frusto-conical portion having a tapered surface extending from end to end, said body portion having a guide opening centrally therethrough and having an external circumferential groove adjacent the larger end of said frusto-conical portion each of whose side walls intersects said tapered surface in an angular edge, said body being formed of work hardened stainless steel.

3. In combination with a sheet of thin metal having a circular opening therein, a tubular body formed of work hardened stainless steel and having its outer periphery formed with a straight 4 mute-conical portion having a tapered surface from end to end and termed with an exterior circumferential zroove adjacent the larger end thereof of a. width slightly greater than the thickness of said sheet, each of the side walls of said groove intersecting said tapered surface in an angular edge and the diameter of said frustoconical portion at said edges being greater than the diameter of said opening in said sheet so that the sheet at the edges of said opening is tlexed when the body is forced through the opening and snaps over the tapered periphery into said groove to secure said tubular body in said opening.

JOSEPH AMON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,070,036 Houghton Aug. 12, 1913 1,454,061 Madden May 8, 1923 1,838,245 Amon Dec. 29, 1931 1,869,441 Shakespeare, Jr. Aug. 2, 1932 2,025,383 Gastrich Dec. 24, 1935 

